A conventional shipping container is typically used to transport packaged goods, but is not suitable for transportation of bulk goods. Such shipping containers have paired vertical doors that swing outward to open one end of the container. The doors permit access to the interior of the container but they are not adapted to loading and unloading of bulk goods. Accordingly, when conventional shipping containers are used, for example, to transport packaged goods from Asia to North America, the containers are often returned to Asia empty because of the trade imbalance in packaged goods, even though there may be bulk goods awaiting shipping from North America to Asia.
Despite the various structures that have been proposed for shipping bulk goods in standard shipping containers there remains a need for shipping containers which may be used in a practical and cost-effective manner to transport both packaged goods and bulk goods.